Louis Étienne Joseph Marie de La Vallée-Poussin (1 January 1869 – 18 February 1938) was a Belgian Indologist and scholar of

Buddhist Studies Buddhist studies, also known as Buddhology, is the academic study of Buddhism. The term ''Buddhology'' was coined in the early 20th century by the Unitarian minister Joseph Estlin Carpenter to mean the "study of Buddhahood, the nature of the Budd ...

Biography

La Vallée-Poussin was born in

Liège Liège ( , , ; wa, Lîdje ; nl, Luik ; german: Lüttich ) is a major city and municipality of Wallonia and the capital of the Belgian province of Liège. The city is situated in the valley of the Meuse, in the east of Belgium, not far from b ...

, where he received his early education. He studied at the

University of Liège The University of Liège (french: Université de Liège), or ULiège, is a major public university of the French Community of Belgium based in Liège, Wallonia, Belgium. Its official language is French. As of 2020, ULiège is ranked in the 301 ...

from 1884 to 1888, receiving his doctorate at the age of nineteen. He studied

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

Pali Pali () is a Middle Indo-Aryan liturgical language native to the Indian subcontinent. It is widely studied because it is the language of the Buddhist ''Pāli Canon'' or ''Tipiṭaka'' as well as the sacred language of ''Theravāda'' Buddhism ...

, and

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

under Charles de Harlez and Philippe Colinet from 1888 to 1890 at the

University of Louvain A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, the ...

, receiving a ''docteur en langues orientales'' in July 1891. Moving to Paris, he began his studies at the

Sorbonne Sorbonne may refer to: * Sorbonne (building), historic building in Paris, which housed the University of Paris and is now shared among multiple universities. *the University of Paris (c. 1150 – 1970) *one of its components or linked institution, ...

that same year under Victor Henri and

Sylvain Lévi Sylvain Lévi (March 28, 1863 – October 30, 1935) was an influential French orientalist and indologist who taught Sanskrit and Indian religion at the École pratique des hautes études. Lévi's book ''Théâtre Indien'' is an important ...

. During this time (1891–1892), he also occupied the chair of Sanskrit at the University of Liège. He continued his study of Avestan and the Zoroastrian

Gathas The Gathas ()"Gatha"
''

Hendrik Kern at

Leiden University Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...

, where he also took up the study of Chinese and Tibetan. In 1893, he attained a professorship at the

University of Ghent Ghent University ( nl, Universiteit Gent, abbreviated as UGent) is a public research university located in Ghent, Belgium. Established before the state of Belgium itself, the university was founded by the Dutch King William I in 1817, when the ...

teaching comparative grammar of Greek and Latin, a position which he held until his retirement in 1929. Louis de La Vallée-Poussin died on February 18th, 1938 in

Brussels Brussels (french: Bruxelles or ; nl, Brussel ), officially the Brussels-Capital Region (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) (french: link=no, Région de Bruxelles-Capitale; nl, link=no, Bruss ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

at the age of 69.

Musila et Nārada

In 1937 La Vallée-Poussin published ''Musila et Nārada'', an influential study on two ways of attaining nirvana, exemplified by the monks Musila and Nārada.

Major works

* ''Nirvana'' * ''La Morale bouddhique'' * ''Documents d'Abhidharma : La controverse du temps, des dieux, les quatre, les trois vérités'' * ''L’Abhidharmakośa de Vasubandhu.'' 6 vols. Paris: 1923–31. * ''Vijñaptimātratāsiddhi: La Siddhi de Hiuan-Tsang'', (1928–1929) * ''L'Inde aux temps des mauryas et des Barbares, Grecs, Scythes, Parthes et Yue-Tchi'' * ''Dynasties et histoire de l'Inde depuis Kanişka jusqu'aux invasions musulmanes (1935)'' * ''Bouddhisme. Opinions sur l'histoire de la dogmatique'' * ''Indo-européens et indo-iraniens. L'Inde jusque vers 300 avant J.-C'', (1924)

References

Sources

* *

External links

*
The way to Nirvana : six lectures on ancient Buddhism as a discipline of salvation
on

archive.org The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

Nécrologie : Louis de La Vallée-Poussin.
''Bulletin de l'École française d'Extrême-Orient'', année 1938, volume 38, pp. 479–483 {{DEFAULTSORT:La Vallee-Poussin, Louis De Belgian Indologists 1869 births 1938 deaths Pali University of Liège alumni Catholic University of Leuven (1834–1968) alumni Buddhist studies scholars Translators from Sanskrit University of Liège faculty Corresponding members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Corresponding Members of the Russian Academy of Sciences (1917–1925) Corresponding Members of the USSR Academy of Sciences